


Defining Chance

by Fieldhockey3



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adopted Teddy Lupin, Baby Teddy Lupin, Bisexual Ginny Weasley, Canon Divergence - Post-Battle of Hogwarts, F/F, F/M, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Sirius Black Needs a Hug, Sirius Black is a Good Friend, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:29:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fieldhockey3/pseuds/Fieldhockey3
Summary: Six months after the Battle of Hogwarts, the members of Dumbledore's Army are still trying to get their lives back on track. Struggling with his grief and remorse, all while taking care of his godson Teddy, Harry Potter is lost. He has no idea how to move on with his life, let alone help his friends. All that he wants to do is take a ~very~ long nap.When an accident involving time travel sends the whole gang back to the night that Harry's parents were murdered, it gives them quite a few new options. Unsure of whether changing the past is ethical, they are forced to, once again, make earth shattering decisions, changing the fate of their world in the process. The entire situation brings uncomfortable feelings to light, and if holding your baby-self isn't enough to freak you out, meeting people who you know died years ago should do it.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 46





	Defining Chance

The sunlight streaked through the dingy windows of Grimmauld Place, highlighting the dust glittering around the old furniture, as Harry blinked away his exhaustion. While it had been six months since the Battle of Hogwarts, it felt like mere days. Walking in a daze, the survivors had been focusing all of their time on arranging funerals, repairing the destruction and sorting out how to move on. Getting a decent night of sleep was low on the list of priorities, particularly for young parents like him.

  
Trudging across the room to retrieve a wailing Teddy Lupin from his bassinet, Harry took stock of the living room. Bouncing the child on his hip, he examined the filtering light and the dreary mantle. Fitting, he supposed, that his new home would be old and, to be frank, probably haunted. He was adjusting to being away from Hogwarts, and while this was much better than the Dursley’s it still felt like the home that rejected Sirius. Harry couldn’t quite see it as his own, and was consequently sleeping on a decorative couch; a fact that his back was beginning to despise. He turned to the kitchen and heated a bottle for his godson as his hair gradually shifted to mirror Harry’s messy dark nest, a new talent that his Aunt Luna thought was adorable.

  
The pair had been living at Grimmauld for approximately five months, after Harry had decided that they had woken the Weasley family for midnight feedings one too many times. Mrs. Weasley had been quite insistent that they had a home at the burrow, but between the various family members in states of mourning and Harry’s struggles to adjust to his new position with Teddy, Hermione had suggested getting their own place. Not wanting to feel like he was intruding on the couple in his own home, he told his friend that he needed space, and would adjust with time. He was beginning to wonder how much “time” his friends would allow when the doorbell echoed through the halls.

  
“Hey mate! How’ya been?” Ron, wearing an over-cheerful grin, nudged his way past Harry, taking his self-proclaimed nephew out of his arms as he went.

  
“What’re you doing h- ‘Mione what’s that?” he rubbed his eyes again, trying (and failing) not to appear over-tired, but stopped when he noticed the wrapped box that she carried.

  
“A gift! It’s for Baby Teddy. I thought he would like this swing and it’ll be really helpful for you too. You can put him in here to play! Especially once you start working-” she rambled.

  
“Working?”

  
“The ministry offered you a position as an auror, didn’t they? Honestly Harry you should really check your mail more often.” She closed the door behind her and followed her boyfriend towards the living room, placing the box on the floor and started trying to prompt Teddy to rip the wrappings. “Anyways, the others are already on their way- should be here any moment now.” Hermione chattered as Ron sat on the floor to make faces at the baby. The bell started ringing again, but before Harry even took a step towards it the door slammed open, violently crashing against the wall.

  
“WHAT’S UP, POTTER?” Ginny yelled as she bounded into the room, Luna and Neville on her heels.

  
“Sorry,” Neville mumbled. “She wouldn’t listen.”

  
“Well that’s because I needed to give my favorite godson his half-birthday present.” She pulled out a stuffed snitch the size of Teddy’s head and a baby-sized Chudley Cannons jersey. Teddy’s hair turned bright red, earning a grin from Ginny that was enough to make Harry intervene.

  
“He’s not even old enough for quidditch, Gin.” he frowned and resisted the urge to pick up his godson.

  
“Hey, you’re NEVER too young to learn!” She spun him around, laughing as he giggled. “Besides, Tonks made me his godmother for a reason. We know you’ve got the whole Dad thing covered, but someone’s got to be the fun one!”

  
Hermione saw the immediate tension winding through Harry’s body and promptly stood. “Well, let’s get this meeting of Dumbledore’s Army started then!” She walked off, expecting everyone to follow her. Ever the moderator, she took the seat at the head of the kitchen table. The very same seat that once belonged to Albus Dumbledore during meetings of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry stood against the wall, arms crossed, as Hermione and Neville started to put away the baby products strewn across the counters. Teddy babbled in his highchair, turning his hair a platinum blonde and reaching for Luna.

  
“It’s nice to be together again. I’m glad that we still do this. Teddy deserves to see his family.” Luna sighed, not even noticing the effect of her words. Ron glanced at Harry, noticing the tears gathering under his glasses before making eye contact with Neville.

  
“So how’ve you been Luna? Everything okay?” he prompted.

  
“Yeah, my dad and I are fine. We’re staying at the Leaky Cauldron until we can figure out what to do about the house. He hasn’t quite been the same since…” she trailed off. “But I guess none of us have really.”

  
“You know you’re always welcome to stay with us, Luna. Ginny is living with us while she finishes school too. We have room,” Hermione offered.

  
“I couldn’t be at the Burrow. Not now. Not without Fred.” Ginny told them, and the mood of the room dropped. Luna and Ginny locked eyes, only to be broken out of their trance seconds later when Teddy started fussing in his chair.

  
“I’ll get him,” Harry started. “He needs a diaper change.”

  
“Harry we’re here to help-”

  
“I’m fine, thank you.” He walked out of the room, Ron following close behind. As Harry laid Teddy down on the changing table, Ron took a deep breath.

  
“Mate, look, I know you’re going through a lot, but we all are. You feel guilty, or whatever, I get it. But c’mon. How long is this going to go on? You declined the job, you won’t let us help you, geez even Ginny can’t make you smile anymore and-”

  
“I know Ron!” He turned around. “I know, I’m not being fair to any of you. I just can’t-” he cut off as Ron pulled him into an embrace.

  
“We all miss them. It’s going to be okay. But promise me that you will try to let us help.”

  
Harry sighed. “I promise.”

  
As they walked back into the room with a newly brunette baby, Hermione was listening to Neville give them his spiel about Hogwarts.

  
“McGonagall decided students don’t have to redo their last year- they can just graduate! We’re holding summer classes to catch students up and everything. But she let me start early, since Professor Sprout is gone. I’m so glad we’re doing this. I really needed to talk to you about repairs- think you can get that consultant to come back from the ministry?” Hermione nodded. “Great! And I was gonna ask Ron if he could start one of those counseling things you talked about for the students-”

  
“I’d love to,” Ron jumped in. “‘Mione’s parents suggested it so I can't really take credit for the idea, but yeah, I can do another one.” He had been holding support groups for the family and friends of the deceased. It seemed to Harry that the war had brought out Ron’s inner big brother.

  
“I think it’s a great idea. Especially because it will give me an excuse to drop by Hogwarts after work,” she grinned. While Hermione may have been excited to take a break from her ministry job to visit their old school, Harry couldn’t look at the castle without being brought back to that day. The day that he became a pseudo-father. The day that he watched his friends die for him. The day that he realized that his mentor had manipulated him to save his peers. The cracks in Hogwarts ran far deeper than the foundation of the school.

  
“Me too! I wish I could see Professor McGonagall more often, but Mr. Scamander has me all over Europe looking for displaced creatures. I’m lucky I even got back in time for this! You can’t imagine how many bowtruckles have been separated from their natural habitats, and don’t even get me started on the nargles!” Luna rambled on and her friends watched her animated rant fondly, but without real heed. But Harry had promised.

  
“You know, if you want to see more of each other, I have extra room here,” he mumbled. Hermione shot up, sharing a look with Ron, but she had barely opened her mouth to respond when Ginny interrupted.

  
“Are you sure?” She looked hopeful, but remained hesitant.

  
“Yeah,” he trailed off, brushing Teddy’s bangs out of his eyes as the boy gurgled in his lap. “I think it would be good for us.” His friends looked between each other again.

  
“Well, we better get cleaning! No offense Harry, but this place is a mess.” Luna’s voice rang like a bell, breaking the silence.

~

It had been two days since the DA met, and already Harry was unsure of his decision. The group seemed eager to take over the home, mostly because the last “safe” place they had had where they could be children without consequence was now a pile of rubble and memories. Hermione had done most of the work with Ron, the pair having taken the day off to renovate Harry’s gloomy property. She was determined that the house had contributed to his “unhealthy coping mechanisms” and “depressive episode”, stating that it was “not a healthy environment for a child”. Of the three assumptions, Harry could not argue with the last, which is why that Saturday was spent painting over dingy wallpaper and cleaning dust bunnies out of old furniture. She was not a fan of Harry’s plan to live out of the living room and kitchen.

  
While he submitted to the makeover, which Ron assured him was for his own good, Harry refused to let them touch two rooms: the bedrooms that had previously belonged to Sirius and Regulus. But, being the child of James Potter and the same boy who had constantly snuck into the restricted section of the Hogwarts library, he had to take a peek. While Luna and Neville were tasked with cleaning the first floor, Ginny with finding suitable bedding, and Ron and Hermione were carrying boxes into various rooms, Harry brough Teddy into his godfather’s room.

  
Sirius’ old bedroom was mostly barren, only consisting of a few personal objects haphazardly abandoned in his rush to leave: a picture of Harry’s mum and dad on the day he was born, another of baby Harry wearing a leather jacket and pulling Sirius’ hair, and an old sweater that must have belonged to Remus. Harry picked it up and put it in Teddy’s little hands.

  
“This belonged to dada,” he told him. The only sign that Teddy understood was a slight stream of drool bubbling out of his lips, but the action was more for Harry than the baby. He needed to know that he would try his best to give Teddy what he had been denied. More, he needed to believe that it would be enough.

  
Deciding that was enough for one day, Harry picked up his godson and tried the next room over. Regulus’ bedroom was much more personalized. There was still a slytherin tie strewn across his bed frame. After searching the closets and drawers, the only thing that Harry thought worth a closer look was a box in the back of the armoire. Most likely shoes, the ratty old box was quite unassuming, which is exactly why he opened it. The oldest trick in the book for a kid who had something to hide: put it where nobody would think to look.

  
Inside the box was an old pocket watch that no longer worked, and a faded page that seemed to have been ripped out of a book. Lifting Teddy off of his seat on Regulus’ carpet, Harry pocketed the page and picked up the watch, only to hear it give a single ‘tick’ before everything went dark.


End file.
